Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Dr. Peter Wijngaard has joined its Board of Directors, effective June 10, 2020. Dr. Wijngaard most recently served as Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer at The Medicines Company (MDCO), where he led the overall development and global medical affairs activities for hypercholesterolemia drug candidate, inclisiran. Dr. Wijngaard was instrumental in Novartis’ USD 9.7 billion acquisition of MDCO that was completed in January 2020. During his 10 year career at MDCO, Dr. Wijngaard held roles of increasing responsibility, leading numerous drug development programs and gaining extensive experience in global project leadership; business development; medical affairs; pharmaceutical commercial strategy; and regulatory and chemistry, manufacturing and controls technical development. Previously, Dr. Wijngaard led European Medical Affairs and Development at Viropharma Inc. (which was subsequently acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals in 2013 and is now part of The Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited) and held various positions at Hoffmann-La Roche, including International Medical Manager and Lifecycle Leader for the transplantation portfolio, as well as managing the Genentech alliance as Global Alliance Director. He served on the Board of Directors of Isotechnika Pharmaceuticals, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals and Ciclofilin Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Hepion in 2016. As an author of more than 50 scientific articles, Dr. Wijngaard has published extensively on transplant immunology and immunosuppression. He has a Ph.D. in Transplantation Immunology from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. The Board has determined that Dr. Wijngaard is an independent director under the Nasdaq Capital Market listing standards and the Company’s independence guidelines, as set forth in its Corporate Governance Guidelines.